Random Thoughts

Snapio's $100K Giveaway

2010-05-21T13:27:00.003-05:00

Snapio, an online printing service, is giving away $100,000 in prizes that can be used for free or discounted printing. Prizes include $10, $20, $25, $50 and $100. To get your share of the $100k, just go to http://www.snapio.com/giveaway and play the Shake the Money Tree game. Its free to play and everyone wins something. The winnings even go towards shipping and handling so there is no catch. Don't miss this opportunity to get some free printing.

Get 250 FREE Business Cards From Snapio

2009-10-12T13:45:00.002-05:00

Sorry I have been absent for such a long time. I have been working hard on getting my company's new online printing service launched.

And now that it is, we are doing a free business card promotion. You can get 250 of Snapio's premium business cards for free. You just have to pay shipping and handling. And the best part is that you will not have our logo tatooed on the back of the cards like some of our competitors. It is a limited time only offer so be sure and get there fast.

Be sure and check out Snapio for all of your custom color printing needs.

Ways To Improve Auto Industry

2009-03-10T00:18:00.003-05:00

For starters, eliminate the dealer network monopoly and allow auto companies to sell direct to consumers. The state's outdated dealer franchise laws are only their to help the dealers rather than the consumers who keep them in business.

Once those laws are fixed, it would not be the end of the dealer...even though that is what they are deathly afraid of. This change would cause them to get creative and there is room for opportunities.

For example, they could still sell new cars but use them as showrooms with one car for each type instead of car lots with tons of inventory that they are constantly trying to get rid of. People would come by to see the cars in person but would then order their car from the car manufacturer via the dealership. The dealer would get commissions for any cars sold.

Dealers could also remain used car sellers but be part of a network of national dealers like a CarMax. Another idea is for dealers to become defacto service providers...they would provide financing services, perform repair services, provide extended warranties, act as car delivery locations, add after-market additions for custom looks, etc. Car salespeople could now become consultants rather than what people think of them right now.

With all these changes, the car manufacturers could then become built to order manufacturers where consumers can order the exact car they want for a lot less than it costs today because they would not have to produce all of that extra inventory in order to anticipate demand. They could even create a modular manufacturing process whereby consumers could build their own cars and have a completely custom designed vehicle.

Solution Providing Affordable Health Care For Every American At The Lowest Cost

2009-02-25T17:32:00.006-06:00

The words universal health care envoke a lot of emotion on both sides of the political isle. Having the government provide health care to every person can look like "the best and right thing to do for Americans at all cost" for some and "the scariest thing in the world to think about having the Government run health care" on the other.

I have a solution to this issue that provides the benefits that both sides are looking for without alienating one side too much. What you would call a great middle of the road fix for health care in America.

The government would cover all essential medical costs (e.g. no elective surgeries) of an individual that exceed $10,000 in a given year (or resulting from a common ailment, i.e. breast cancer costs would be covered for the same individual for their lifetime once they reach $10,000 in initial costs).

Government would either subsidize or pay for any and all preventitive health services that would be limited to one service per person per year. Examples of this would be a yearly physical or pre-natal care.

Government would allow every American to have a Health Savings Account (HSA) slightly modified however to fit this plan.

All contributions to the these modified HSAs would be tax deductible if the individual contributes or provide a 100% tax credit to the business if the individual's company contributes (distributions can be used for any immediate family member's health care costs)

What happens essentially is that individuals just have to cover the $10,000 cost themselves out of pocket or via an HSA or buy a health care policy that covers only the first $10,000. The cost of an insurance policy like that should be minimal because there is no big payout risks for the insurance companies which would make it very affordable for everyone to buy. And all health insurance companies providing this coverage would not be allowed to turn anyone away which again is not a big concern because they would be limited in their liability.

The benefits to this plan are across the board:

No American would have to go bankrupt because of high health care costs

Cost taxpayers less money than full Universal Health Care

Promotes good health practices like preventative care

Drives down and cotrolls inflation of health care costs

Encourages contribution from businesses

Nice retirement nestegg for those who stay healthy

Affordable health care for everyone

Less Government intervention

Please share this post and lets start a grassroots effort to reform our health care coverage in America.

No More "Worst Since Great Depression" Talk

2009-02-25T08:41:00.002-06:00

Well, I guess I get my chance to say I told you so. My previous post on Worst Recession Since Great Depression said that Obama will change his tune once he got his Economic Recovery bill passed. I just hope all of his positive talk will now help spur on some consumer confidence that will help us get out of this recession.

Worst Recession Since Depression - Obama Has It Wrong For a Reason

2009-02-13T14:25:00.005-06:00

Unless you have been hiding underneath a rock, you know the US along with most of the world is in a difficult recession. Many people have said this is the worst economic crisis since the great depression...and they would be wrong. And that includes Barack Obama...but he has a reason for what he says. Like most politicians, they have to exaggerate in order to convince whoever they are talking to that they are right and you should listen to what they have to say. I don't mind the tactic but his strong wording of this problem is making things worse. Recessions are partly psychologically driven...well, probably mostly. His talk of Great Depression causes great angst for those people that either don't understand the workings of the economy or are caught up in the horrible side effects of a deep recession and are having trouble seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

We are in a hard recession...I am not denying that. But based on all of the figures (jobs and GDP being the most relevent), we are not worse off than we were in the 70's and 80's recessions. Obama uses jobless numbers for his figures instead of percentages because based on the latter, we are not as bad off...but those big numbers sure are scary and they are bigger than many of the past recessions...but we have more people working these days so of course the numbers will be larger.

I predict that Barrack Obama will greatly reduce his great depression mentions once the stimulus plan is passed and signed into law...which looks like will happen today. That is because I think he is using this strong talk (even though it is making things worse) to help get his ideas of what we need to help the country passed. If he doesn't stop this kind of talking, he runs the risk of elongating this recession and that would be very bad news for him in 2012. Whether he stops or not, don't fear because we will get out of this recession.

While I didn't vote for Obama, I do like a lot of what he says. The reason I didn't vote for him is because I either didn't trust he would follow through or would not be able to follow through. But that is neither here nor there.

I hope he heads my advice and stops going on about the worst recession since the great depression because it is hurting America. I have a feeling though, if he does stop in order to allow consumer confidence to come back, that he will definitely bring it back up again in 2012 when he tells the American public that he got us out of the worst recession since the great depression. Don't believe it...because it is not the worst and the President (any President) has little to do with getting us out or even getting us in to recessions for that matter. Keep doing what you are doing, take care of your family, have fun with your friends and work hard or work hard at finding a job and that is the best thing you can do to keep America running. God Bless!

Envelope please...and winner of cutest baby ever is...

2009-02-10T11:14:00.002-06:00

Cole Thaddeus Whitworth

Now I might be a little biased but I think he is a hands down winner of the cutest baby award. Let me know if you think so too.

This picture was taken by a friend of ours, Jen Verde, who is starting up her own baby photography business.

Sifting Our Tax Dollars Down The Drain

2009-02-01T22:10:00.005-06:00

I was visiting my in-laws this weekend in Galveston. Luckily their house was spared from major damage when hurricane Ike hit last year. When I saw huge trucks loading up with sand on the beach, I asked them what was going on. Apparently, they are digging up the entire beach on Galveston Island about 3-4 feet deep, loading them into trucks and taking them to the end of the beach. When at the end, they are putting them through sifting machines to clean out debris and then loading them into trucks and taking them back to the beach and putting it back. I am not sure how expensive this huge operation is (there were tons of heavy equipment up and down the beach) but I am not sure that is the best way to spend money rebuilding Galveston. Good job spending our tax dollars, Texas government.

2 Best Condiments of All Time

2009-01-30T15:41:00.003-06:00

What are the two best condiments of all time? Is it salt and pepper? Nope! The two condiments of choice when it comes to my tastebuds are clear, and unarguably ranch dressing and ketchup. Put ranch on salads, pizza, sandwiches, potatoes, etc. Ketchup great for fries, steaks, anything fried and suprisingly tamales. I usually have a great internal debate of ranch or ketchup when it comes to fried things but depending on the maker of the ranch, I will usually go with tried and true ketchup. I have yet to find a food item that takes both at the same time but wouldn't that be wonderul? Or would it?

Cool iPhone App to Find Restaurants - Urban Spoon

2009-01-28T16:39:00.003-06:00

Has anyone seen this cool new app on the Apple iPhone? First of all, it automatcially knows where you are by using GPS and then can give you resaurants nearby. It was created by Urban Spoon. It has the ability to shake your iPhone and then come up with a random suggestion of a nearby restaurant. I have heard people say that they use it to find new places to try. But this little app is perfect for my wife and I. Between the two of us, we can never decide where we want to eat...not because we argue about going to one place versus the other but instead neither one of us cares enough to just pick a place. So if we actually owned an iPhone, then we could just let it decide for us. Sure wish I had AT&T as my provider.

WFC is not in as bad of shape as other banks

2009-01-27T22:08:00.003-06:00

Wells Fargo, in my opinion, is the baby being thrown out with the bath water. It is being thrown into the grouping of Citigroup and Bank of America which have both been recently hit hard with toxic mortgage assets. But the glaring difference is that those two banks bought brokers that were selling the very highly leveraged credit default swaps. And Wells is just buying Wachovia's bad mortgages. The leverage of the swaps is what I think is killing C and BAC and I don't think the market is taking this into account.

Some people are thinking the purchase of Wachovia is going to bring Wells Fargo down but I think this was a great purchase. It gives WFC practically a nationwide footprint, hundreds of billion in deposits and a great run bank that just so happend to make a bad purchase of Golden West...the source of the majority of bad mortgages. After the tax break Wells is going to get from this purchase, they are basically getting Wachovia for free. I think hindsight will show that this purchase was a brilliant move. Right now WFC is trading at $16.19. My guess is that we are going to see the stock do very, very well over the next couple of years because of this merger and because the economic recovery. Now...I will give full disclosure, I just recently bought some WFC. But I used to work at the bank and I know how well run it is and I have no doubt that they will be one of the best banks in the country (if not the best) after all the smoke clears.

A Rapper at the Inauguration

2009-01-26T16:14:00.002-06:00

Was it just me or did anyone else think they were going to have a rapper at the inauguration when they announced Yo Yo Ma was going to perform. I guess I have not stayed up to date with my "famous cellists" list. Oops!

Waiting for Spring Time

2009-01-24T17:29:00.002-06:00

As I sit here in my living room looking out the window on this cold, overcast day...I can't help but think of warmer, longer days and greener grass and leaves on my pecan trees. I have always been a spring and summer guy. My wife likes cold days and rainy days as well as sunny spring and summer days. But for me, I would just prefer it be late spring weather year round. I don't really need seasons. I can just travel to the places where the leaves change color and where it snows...but then return to my eternal spring weather back at home.

Welcome to Random Thoughts By David Whitworth

2009-01-23T14:10:00.004-06:00

Well, I have finally decided to create a blog of my own after reading so many others. I hope you will enjoy reading my posts. Some stuff will be serious, some fun and most of them...random.

The name of my blog stems from the fact that I have always liked the word random, there is no general theme and my hope is that every once in awhile I just might actually generate some food for thought.

David